Kay: When Travis chose the ROTC path, I really struggled with it. He's my only child, and the world that we live in today, there's so much conflict.

Kay: I had to learn to accept that that was his choice, and it's his life to live. Once I realized that he was making the choice based on who he was and based on the information that he gathered and based on all the mentors that had been in his life, I had to come along with him and support that.

Kay: When he left for college, he was shy, and somewhat of an introvert, so with ROTC it gave him that social outlet, it gave him that bonding of friendship, it taught him how to be responsible with other people, and it taught him how to manage his time and manage his life overall in general.

Kay: This made me a lot stronger as a parent. It's made me stronger in the fact that I can let go of him, and I don't have to be so protective. I can trust him. I can trust the education that he got. It's made my job as a parent so much easier. I feel very good about his choice to go into the ROTC, go into the military, and that uniform looks pretty good on him, too. I am proud of the man that Travis has become. I'm proud of his accomplishments, I'm proud of who he is as a person, I'm proud of his morals, his values, his determination, his stubbornness.